Bring in used electronics to be recycled, refurbished Sept. 16; learn new procedures for year-round pickup

September 13, 2011

Do you have old cell phones, computers, printers, keyboards, mice, cables, cords and chargers you’re no longer using? Bring your used items from work or home (no televisions, please) so Case Western Reserve University’s partner RET3 can recycle them. Even if the equipment does not work, still donate it; parts will be reused or recycled in the proper manner. Bring all donated equipment near the main entrance at the Severance Parking Garage on East Boulevard on Friday, Sept. 16 (Case for Community Day), from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

RET3 is a nonprofit organization dedicated to refurbishing and recycling electronic equipment to donate to the community. RET3’s Green Computing Program provides refurbished computers to schools and non-profits in Northeast Ohio.

The university also updated its e-waste process with RET3 to offer more convenient and free e-waste recycling to the university year-round. By completing the new online e-waste form, RET3 will arrange pick-ups directly with university departments and e-waste no longer has to travel to the Cedar Facilities Services Building. Please note: Department donors must ensure RET3 receives inventory for donation; it cannot be left unmonitored in public areas.

The U.S. EPA estimates that more than 3.2 million tons of electronics are landfilled each year. The university would like to see all of its e-waste refurbished or recycled responsibly.

This program was designed with the help of University staff: Bob Sopko, Marc Rubin, Gene Matthews, Tangela Scott-Jones, John Kane, Tom Siu, Mandy Carte, Stephanie Corbett and members of RET3 and OneCommunity, Ken Kovatch, Pat Holland and Joseph Tarasco. A student e-waste recycling program is currently in design.

Please follow this updated protocol for university e-waste recycling:

Case Information Security Computer Decommissioning Procedure
a. If any computer destined for recycling is known to have stored restricted information (e.g. SSN data, academic records, HR files, patient research data, etc.), then the computer hard drive is to be purged of any data before transfer to RET3’s Green Computing program. The established procedure for media sanitization can be found here: http://www.case.edu/its/policy/media_sanitization.html.
b. RET3’s staff will remove donated hard drives to be cleaned using the (DOD3) drive wipe program provided by Blancco, which rewrites the drive three times.
c. Equipment that has exhausted its useful life will be recycled in a responsible manner through a process that is fully compliant with EPA standards and offers a 100 percent no-landfill guarantee.

RET3 accepts the following equipment
a. Desktops, laptops, monitors, servers, docking stations, printers, keyboards, mouse, other input devices, cables and cell phones. Please be sure to include all corresponding power supply cords with each piece of equipment.
b. If the equipment does not work, still donate it; parts will be reused or recycled in the proper manner.

Fill out the e-waste pickup form and wait to be contacted by RET3 by phone to schedule a pick-up
a. After receiving the e-waste pickup form, RET3 will contact donors by phone to confirm a pickup day, time and location.
b. RET3 will schedule university pickups weekly to try to be as fuel efficient as possible.
c. E-waste donors must ensure equipment is not left in unmonitored public areas so that it is in the best possible condition. RET3 will require that a university contact be present when they make their pickup.